A world upside down

There was a piece in this week's Money section in Saturday's Guardian about a man who has spent the last 15 years putting £70K into a pension scheme. Now that is nearly £400 per month. When he asked how much it is now worth, it turned out to be less than he had put in. So why is anyone going to listen to a government banging on about saving for pensions when the only pockets getting lined are the fund managers? And how come banks seem to be doing exactly what they were doing before the financial meltdown?

In the book world, Tesco and Amazon are both offering the new Peter Kay title at 75% off. Most independent bookshops receive a 30% disccount from the publisher. Which means most independent bookshops will buy their Peter Kays from Tesco and Amazon and be quids in.

Meanwhile Waterstone's seems to be creating their own Catherine wheel in the hub. One wonders if they are interested in customers.

Today is the feast day of St Francis of Assisi. He is the patron saint of animals, the environment and Italy. He was a young man just as banks (from the Italian banco or bench where the merchants carried out their business in the marketplace) were started. He turned his back on the merchant life and embraced poverty instead.

Perhaps he had the right idea.